Would you send a down payment to buy online ?

[Dakar Timm]

Fake Classic Car Dealer Scammed Buyers Out of Thousands in Deposits
How doews one separate the real from the fake ?

 

[Cranky]

A buddy of mine got scammed out of a LOT of money on a 68 road runner a couple of years ago. All of the classic signs were there but he failed to educate himself on it. One would think it shouldn't be too hard to research the classic car dealer before diving in. Going to that dealer in person beforehand is worth doing for sure.

 

[Dakar Timm]

With Google Earth , it's plenty easy to see if the building even exist . Several years back there was a scam involving Honda 4 wheelers . Hundreds of folks lost a great deal of money .

 

[YY1]

A lot of it falls into the "situational awareness" category.

Some people are just not good at that.

I've sent a $500 down payment before driving out of state to pickup before, to an individual for an ebay vehicle purchase.

 

[gkent]

Back in 2009 I was bidding and won an Ebay auction for a concession trailer. There were some power failures in my area that day and to ensure I got it I had a friend toss in a bid now and then. In the end I placed the winning bid out of nineteen total bids. I instantly got a message to send $500 deposit. I went back and forth on this saying I would pay the full amount in cash in two days when I picked it up in person. I also said I wanted to know the s/n since I'm in Canada and needed that to set up a broker for the import. When I got the s/n I called Wells Fargo and was told the s/n didn't match that trailer. Back and forth with the seller for a while. In the meantime my buddy got an email saying the original deal fell through and he was now the winner - please send a deposit. This raised some more suspicion in addition to the s/n. Over the course of the next few hours my buddy did some internet searching and found that particular (the exact one) for sale in another part of the country for about $20,000 more than I won the auction for. When I notified Ebay about what was now an obvious scam their reply (by email) was thatI would have been protected under Paypal's policy if I'd paid with Paypal. Absolutely nothing about any action on their (Ebay's) part !!! So needless to say I didn't go through with the deal. But the story doesn't end there. About six months later I got an email from a guy who fell for the deal and got ripped off and apparently in his search managed to track down and contact all the bidders to piece together what happened. I told him my story and what Ebay's response had been. Unfortunately I hadn't kept the Ebay email - it may have been good evidence in a case against them.

Nowadays when I make any deals - including from the ads on this site - I do Google searches, address searches, email address verification, I look at the buyer or sender location on Google earth and anything else I can think of before I finalize the deal.

 

[33 IMP]

I don't buy anything on line, from anybody.

 

[Cranky]

I don't buy anything on line, from anybody.

I've been buying and selling online for 30 years or more and so far so good. Even done some online stuff on the local advertising forums like facelessbook market place. Whenever someone comes to my home to pick something up, I'm armed but so far so good. In the mid 80's when I was still using the local newspaper to advertise in, a guy came out to pick up a Challenger body that was basically a shell and advertised it as such but he was expecting that it was much much more and got pissed. Simply told him that he didn't read the ad and he got more pissed. I told him to leave at that point and it escalated even more and that's when I said 'let me grab my 12g right quick and acted like I was going for it and well, he turned and ran. Nowadays, I wear a side arm but that was the only occasion where things got a bit out of hand.

 

[1967coronet]

Small ticket items are not so scary.
But when it comes to classic cars , bikes ect.
Do a in person pre bid/ purchase inspection. To be sure the car ect is in the condition advertised and really exists.
Drives me nuts to read these stories when someone will wire off $$ to who knows ? But will not drop $500 on a plane ticket to inspect in person a $ 10k plus car.

 

[demonram]

Before I bought my current Satellite I looked at one and did the buy it now on eBay on what looked like a beautiful black one. I didn’t give him any money down. He was going somewhere and we set up to meet in Rockford Illinois which was 80 miles from me. He brought the car on his trailer, said he was picking up another car after this. I had $11,000 cash on me. Luckily we arrived about the same time and he didn’t have time to start it. When he did to back it off the trailer, it was ticking. He said oh it stops once it warms up. The car looked great, I will say that. I popped the hood and was checking things out. There was an electric fuel pump with a white wire running through the firewall with not even a grommet. I didn’t say anything, looked at the fuse box and the wire was stuffed between the fuse and the holder. I started checking the body, honestly the bondo was an inch thick on the back quarters. Again, I didn’t say a word. He asked, so we got a deal? I said you’re kidding me, right? He got ticked and said if you don’t buy it, I’ve got to cancel buying the car I’m going to pick up. I said, I wouldn’t give you $7,000.00 for this car. I don’t give a rats butt (My language was not this mellow) about your situation. He said something else, I laughed and went in the station bought a cup of coffee and left.

 

[Triplegreen500]

I bought my Charger online. Saw the ad on eBay and called the guy. I'm in MD, car was in FL. Talked with him. Had him take and send more photos (mainly VIN and some odd detail shots that I knew a scammer wouldn't have "on hand" - not that I needed to see the VIN stamped into the trunk rail, I just wanted to make sure the car was there for real). Told him I'd be down on Saturday with my truck and trailer (it was a Weds, I think), he adjusted the BIN price to match what we discussed, I clicked the button and made my $500 deposit.

If you do it THROUGH EBAY, you are covered by their system if you get scammed. THEY have records of it; records of who opened the seller account; copies of the ad; etc.

I went to FL with my truck and trailer (also an excuse to visit mom, who lives an hour from where the car was), car wasn't quite what I expected (paint was rougher than it looked in the ad - very oxidized; I put a knee through the drivers rear floorboard when I was checking under the seat) but all in all it was well worth what I paid for it so I loaded it up, we went to my bank down there, they verified the funds were there to back up my certified check, we went to his bank so he could deposit it, and the rest is history. I replaced the driver side floors with AMD; polished the crap out of it to get some shine back in the paint...and have been loving it ever since. Last fall I rebuilt the front end because it was ALL original (and bushings were rotted to dust)...but none of that was unexpected for me, buying a stated, unrestored, survivor car that's 50 years old.

If the buyer and seller both go into things eyes-open and paying attention...it can work just fine. Be reasonable with your attitude and your expectations, don't be a dick, and don't tolerate someone else being a dick. You know, kinda like life.

 

[patrick66]

I used to do PPIs for a CT outfit that has inspectors nationwide. One dealer about a hundred miles South of me had some very nice-looking vehicles at any given time. The company sent me down there three different times on three occasions to look at cars for three different buyers. The first car was a beautiful M-B 230 that was all it was supposed to be and more. I did the report on it and left. Second car was a '66 Chevelle SS396 4-speed car that was a decent-enough car, but had numerous issues that were not in the ad. I reported on it, as well. The third car? Well, it turned out the first two buyers passed on those cars, and the dealer blamed ME for that! He wouldn't let me inspect the third car, a '70 'Cuda 383 auto that allegedly had 28K miles on the clock. I called the inspection office, told them what was up, and left without inspecting the car at all. No sweat off my ***. I had no skin in the game, and really didn't care. I still got paid, and that dealer was blacklisted from having anything inspected (by us) again.

I'm to the point where I don't bend as I should to inspect a car thoroughly these days, so I gave that gig up a couple of years ago. When I do a PPI, I'm doing it from purely a disinterested third-party view. I'm not buying the vehicle, the buyer is. He might be local, or Florida, or Dubai. I had my paint gauge with me, along with a flexible magnet (think fridge magnet, but a little stronger). I'd spend anywhere from an hour to nearly two hours, and take anywhere from 125 - 200 pictures. I did that for 20 years, and averaged six inspections per year. Fun little gig!

I'll note that I NEVER made recommendations to buy or not!!! That is not the inspectors' job, nor is it the inspectors' job to make a value appraisal. That is up to the buyer to determine through the report and the pictures. I was certainly upfront about items that were either outstanding, or needed attention. In fact, in most cases, I never knew the asking price (unless that vehicle was online).

 

[patrick66]

Small ticket items are not so scary.
But when it comes to classic cars , bikes ect.
Do a in person pre bid/ purchase inspection. To be sure the car ect is in the condition advertised and really exists.
Drives me nuts to read these stories when someone will wire off $$ to who knows ? But will not drop $500 on a plane ticket to inspect in person a $ 10k plus car.

Especially since a PPI costs around $400, and you have the results in-hand within 24 hours of completion. Let someone else do the inspection for you. The inspector is a third-party who has NO interest in buying the car. If he is worth his salt, you can take that inspection report as gospel. A buyer is ALWAYS emotionally-involved (B-J or Mecum, anyone?), no matter what you might think, whether at a classic auction or buying a new(er) car.

BTW, where are you getting $500 plane tickets to anywhere these days? That's cheap in 2023.

 

[YY1]

That "you are now the winning bidder" scam was REAL popular and went on fir a LONG time.

I've posted my experience with that and a 64 Polara I was about 3 hours away from.

The scammer tried everything he could think of to keep me from driving over to pick it up and pay cash and eventually ran out of ideas.

One of the last correspondences was him saying "The car is covered in boxes, I am in a wheelchair and can't get to the garage, but this is so easy, just send the $5,000, and I will have it shipped to your home for free".

 

[moparedtn]

Small ticket items are not so scary.
But when it comes to classic cars , bikes ect.
Do a in person pre bid/ purchase inspection. To be sure the car ect is in the condition advertised and really exists.
Drives me nuts to read these stories when someone will wire off $$ to who knows ? But will not drop $500 on a plane ticket to inspect in person a $ 10k plus car.

The thing to keep in mind with eBay in particular is that they have legally positioned themselves to
simply be the "venue" when it comes to car sales listings.
It's the same thing as finding a listing for sale in the local newspaper or "Trading Post".
In other words, they are not responsible for anything more in the deal than providing a website/listing
service - therefore, they stay out of anything legal to do with actual deals.

There's no coincidence that eBay and PayPal have the same owners - the legal burdens of car deals ($$$)
fall upon PayPals' shoulders that way, hence their "protection" on purchases, be that as it may.

I'm no wheeler dealer like a lot of the fellas on this site, but my rules of engagement have always been
simple - lay hands on any car you're thinking of buying; if not your own hands, at least have someone
else you really trust do it for you.
You'll find out a lot about not only the car for sale, but about who is doing the selling that way - but
Good Lord, NEVER buy a car sight-unseen!

 

[padam]

I can tell you that there’s some strange stuff that happens on EBay now.
I have a car for auction on there now, 2nd try.
1st time the winning bidder cancelled because he “bid by mistake.”
He bid 11 times over 3 or 4 days.
I got no response from next bidder, and also no response from the knuckle heads that tried to buy it on the side during the auction.

3 days into the second auction I get questions from 3 different people, all at the same time, none of whom responded to my reply.

Just seems like something isn’t right.

Not to mention that eBay has become horrible to use.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Yeah, I used to sell on ebay for a living, for an RV dealer I worked for. Got the "by mistake" excuse a bunch. Sometimes, legit - one was a local and it was definitely the kid who'd snagged dad's password and was buying all sorts of random ****. The $175k motorhome, though, was beyond the capabilities of the linked paypal account! I'd also get all sorts of "I'll help you out by buying it off-line so you don't have to pay the ebay fees" offers...but, with a biz account, we'd pay our fees when we listed the item, not when they sold, so...no help there, so sorry, place a bid and if you win, it's yours.

You will ALWAYS get scammers, whether ebay, or newspaper, or farcebook, or in-person. Just gotta keep up to date on what the current trend is, and be alert and aware. Cash talks, bullshit walks, and cashiers checks go to the bank BEFORE releasing the item because even cashiers' checks can be (and are) forged.

 

[WileERobby]

I'd bought and sold cars and parts many times over the years, but rarely recently. I had good transactions on both ends thankfully, honesty is the best policy. My rule of thumb: don't pay any deposit you're not willing to lose.

 

[WileERobby]

On a related note, just this past year an acquaintance ( a car guy !! ) who has a couple mint Mopars was buying a 6-bbl car and was scammed out of $34k !!! He told me about the unrealistic price for the car AFTER he lost his money. I told him, if you had conferred with me, I would've told you it was an obvious scam ( a "too good to be true" price ). He thought he was getting a six-figure car for a bargain.

 

[padam]

I’ve bought and sold online for years also, but something is starting to feel different.
I wonder if bots and AI are becoming active in the scam game.

 

[#41]

I have sold cars on eBay and been paid in full without any proof I exist other than an email exchange, or that I even own the car. These are the people who the scammers are targeting. It typically only take a brief investigation to determine if a seller is legit and save yourself the grief.